This invention relates generally to monitoring network transmission.
The needs for collecting from and disbursing participant identifying data to network locations can be best described by reference to the following particular application.
Worldwide deregulation and packet-switched technology have brought dramatic changes to the telecommunications industry. Voice communication over packet-switched networks, such as, the Internet, is now in demand. Voice Over the Internet technology is now available which integrates a public switched telephone network (PSTN) and the Internet. Voice over the Internet technology is also referred to as, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Voice over IP (VoIP) uses the Internet Protocol (IP) to transmit voice as packets over a network using the Internet Protocol. So VoIP can be achieved on any data network that uses the Internet Protocol, like Internet, Intranets and Local Area Networks (LAN).
In most VoIP system, the VoIP gateways comprise two separate gateways: the signaling gateway and the media gateway. In a VoIP phone call, after a number is dialed, the number is mapped to an IP host using signaling protocols. Then, signaling protocols are utilized for establishing the media sessions (voice, video, etc.) These protocols contain phone number information. After the media session is established, the VoIP data communication utilizes the Real-Time Transport Protocol/User Datagram Protocol/Internet Protocol (RTP/UDP/IP) as the protocol stack.
Monitoring the RTP media transmission does not ensure obtaining the phone number originating or receiving the RTP media transmission since the signaling and the media information may travel over different segments of the network.
Therefore, there is a need for providing means for assigning phone numbers (participant identifying data) to RTP (network) transmission events.